PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s on edges)

Theme: Odd One Out

Author/Opus: This is the 45th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: In this variation of Tapa, the wall is in the form of a single non-intersecting loop. Clues inside the grid represent the number of neighboring cells visited by the loop; if there is more than one number in a cell, each number should be represented with a separate loop segment. There is no 2×2 rule of Tapa in this puzzle. This example image should help:

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of the horizontal loop segments from left to right in the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry with a comma. For the example, this would be “11,12”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 9:00, Master = 15:00, Expert = 30:00

Solution: PDF; a solution video is available here.

Note: Follow this link for other Tapa-Like Loop puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Tapa puzzles to get started on.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s on edges)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 44th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: In this variation of Tapa, the wall is in the form of a single non-intersecting loop. Clues inside the grid represent the number of neighboring cells visited by the loop; if there is more than one number in a cell, each number should be represented with a separate loop segment. There is no 2×2 rule of Tapa in this puzzle. This example image should help:

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of the horizontal loop segments from left to right in the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry with a comma. For the example, this would be “11,12”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:20, Master = 2:15, Expert = 4:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Tapa-Like Loop puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Tapa puzzles to get started on.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s on edges)

Theme: It All Adds Up (to 8) – every valid clue that sums to 8 appears at least once.

Author/Opus: This is the 31st puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: In this variation of Tapa, the wall is in the form of a single non-intersecting loop. Clues inside the grid represent the number of neighboring cells visited by the loop; if there is more than one number in a cell, each number should be represented with a separate loop segment. There is no 2×2 rule of Tapa in this puzzle. This example image should help:

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of the horizontal loop segments from left to right in the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry with a comma. For the example, this would be “11,12”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 2:30, Master = 3:15, Expert = 6:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Tapa-Like Loop puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Tapa puzzles to get started on.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s on edges)

Theme: 1 to 8

Author/Opus: This is the 30th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: In this variation of Tapa, the wall is in the form of a single non-intersecting loop. Clues inside the grid represent the number of neighboring cells visited by the loop; if there is more than one number in a cell, each number should be represented with a separate loop segment. There is no 2×2 rule of Tapa in this puzzle. This example image should help:

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of the horizontal loop segments from left to right in the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry with a comma. For the example, this would be “11,12”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:45, Master = 2:30, Expert = 5:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Tapa-Like Loop puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Tapa puzzles to get started on.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s on edges)

Theme: Pairs

Author/Opus: This is the 29th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: In this variation of Tapa, the wall is in the form of a single non-intersecting loop. Clues inside the grid represent the number of neighboring cells visited by the loop; if there is more than one number in a cell, each number should be represented with a separate loop segment. There is no 2×2 rule of Tapa in this puzzle. This example image should help:

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of the horizontal loop segments from left to right in the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry with a comma. For the example, this would be “11,12”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:00, Master = 2:00, Expert = 4:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Tapa-Like Loop puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Tapa puzzles to get started on.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s on edges)

Theme: Logical

Author/Opus: This is the 26th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: In this variation of Tapa, the wall is in the form of a single non-intersecting loop. Clues inside the grid represent the number of neighboring cells visited by the loop; if there is more than one number in a cell, each number should be represented with a separate loop segment. There is no 2×2 rule of Tapa in this puzzle. This example image should help:

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of the horizontal loop segments from left to right in the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry with a comma. For the example, this would be “11,12”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 0:45, Master = 1:40, Expert = 3:20

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Tapa-Like Loop puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Tapa puzzles to get started on.

(view image directly for a larger form)

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s on edges)

Theme: Triple Threat

Author/Opus: This is the 28th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Serkan Yürekli.

Rules: In this variation of Tapa, the wall is in the form of a single non-intersecting loop. Clues inside the grid represent the number of neighboring cells visited by the loop; if there is more than one number in a cell, each number should be represented with a separate loop segment. There is no 2×2 rule of Tapa in this puzzle. This example image should help:

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of the horizontal loop segments from left to right in the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry with a comma. For the example, this would be “11,12”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 8:15, Master = 10:00, Expert = 20:00

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Tapa-Like Loop puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Tapa puzzles to get started on.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s on edges)

Theme: Double Trouble

Author/Opus: This is the 11th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Prasanna Seshadri.

Rules: In this variation of Tapa, the wall is in the form of a single non-intersecting loop. Clues inside the grid represent the number of neighboring cells visited by the loop; if there is more than one number in a cell, each number should be represented with a separate loop segment. There is no 2×2 rule of Tapa in this puzzle. This example image should help:

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of the horizontal loop segments from left to right in the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry with a comma. For the example, this would be “11,12”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:45, Master = 2:45, Expert = 5:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Tapa-Like Loop puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Tapa puzzles to get started on.

PDF

or solve online (using our beta test of Penpa-Edit tools in linex mode where left click+drag draws lines and right click marks X’s on edges)

Theme: Clue Symmetry and Logic

Author/Opus: This is the 85th puzzle from our contributing puzzlemaster Grant Fikes.

Rules: In this variation of Tapa, the wall is in the form of a single non-intersecting loop. Clues inside the grid represent the number of neighboring cells visited by the loop; if there is more than one number in a cell, each number should be represented with a separate loop segment. There is no 2×2 rule of Tapa in this puzzle. This example image should help:

Answer String: Enter the length in cells of the horizontal loop segments from left to right in the marked rows, starting at the top. Separate each row’s entry with a comma. For the example, this would be “11,12”.

Time Standards (highlight to view): Grandmaster = 1:20, Master = 2:15, Expert = 4:30

Solution: PDF

Note: Follow this link for other Tapa-Like Loop puzzles. If you are new to this puzzle type, here are our easiest Tapa puzzles to get started on.

We started with two loop genres (Slitherlink and Masyu) and added our own take on another (Yajilin) later in the year. But some Snake, Path, and other puzzles came in as well. In this category, variations seemed to get high ratings most consistently, with a surprise favorite among the group.

All for One and One for All, one of our first Slitherlink puzzles with an uncommon center, was the early favorite in this category.

But two Slitherlink variations would end up tied with higher rankings at the end of the year. March brought us Slitherlink (Domino) from Grant Fikes, an entertaining puzzle that gave domino clues and required the loop to be tiled as dominoes (but not necessarily uniquely, which led to much debate).

While there were no wolves in sheep’s clothing in our next favorite, Slitherlink (Sheep/Wolves) from October was also well-received.

Among the Masyu, the most top votes went to Grant’s extra large format puzzle from June (Grant contributed two more large Masyu to The Art of Puzzles which we can’t wait to show you).

But the favorite in the category was a much more recent puzzle, Tapa-like Loop from Serkan Yürekli. Whether this variation has enough steam to become a regular puzzle type remains to be seen, but a lot of solvers enjoyed this one example so we will try to have some more in 2014.

These phenomenal loop puzzles are gathered together in this PDF.